Tivo Suggestions Paid?

[davidvanb]

Every once in a while I delete a bunch of shows that have been taking up space and my Tivo Suggestions folder starts to build up. The thing I have noticed is a concentration of certain very specific shows. For example, last week my 12 automatically recorded Suggestions included 4 episodes of "Strangers with Candy". I thought this was unusual considering it has only been brought back to Comedy Central very recently and was brought back to simply drum up viewers for the movie being released soon.

My question is, do networks/studios sometimes pay Tivo for recordings in the Suggestions folder?

Thanks,

Dave

[JimSpence]

Your TiVo just learned that you like Candy. :)

Seriously, the suggestions are made based on your viewing habits.

[stevel]

TiVo has stated officially that suggestions are never influenced by advertising payments.

[funtoupgrade]

Turn off your suggestions if it really bugs you.

[davidvanb]

Doesn't bug me at all. Thanks for putting words in my mouth. I was just curious.

[LostCluster]

When a network runs a marathon of a particular show, it's not unusal for TiVo to record several episodes from it as suggestions in a clump.

[jcuervoga]

Regardless of what TiVo says, I think they are definitely recording suggestions they have been paid for. I have 2 TiVos, one I use to record basically everything, the other to record nothing but reality shows. I'm not a fan of crime dramas, have rated them all 3 thumbs down, and never record them. Despite this, both my Tivos recorded the pilot episodes of The Closer and Rescue Me when they were rebroadcast last month. Nothing I've ever rated would give any impression to the TiVo that I would want to watch these shows, particularly on the TiVo that records nothing but Big Brother, Project Runway, and Amazing Race and Survivor reruns.

[Turtleboy]

I think your tinfoil hat is on too tight.

They're not paid.

[SleepyBob]

Regardless of what TiVo says, I think they are definitely recording suggestions they have been paid for. I have 2 TiVos, one I use to record basically everything, the other to record nothing but reality shows. I'm not a fan of crime dramas, have rated them all 3 thumbs down, and never record them. Despite this, both my Tivos recorded the pilot episodes of The Closer and Rescue Me when they were rebroadcast last month. Nothing I've ever rated would give any impression to the TiVo that I would want to watch these shows, particularly on the TiVo that records nothing but Big Brother, Project Runway, and Amazing Race and Survivor reruns.

But you recorded The Amazing Race and Big Brother. If other people who record those also record The Closer, that information gets sent to your TiVo so it can record The Closer as a suggestion. The fact that you've never recorded crime dramas before is no longer the only consideration in how TiVo chooses its suggestions.

[phox_mulder]

I'm not a fan of crime dramas, have rated them all 3 thumbs down, and never record them.

As been stated here time and time again, 3 thumbs down seriously messes up the suggestions.
You are giving thumbs down to not only the type of show, but the actors, directors, producers, and many other factors that escape me.

The TiVo doesn't know what exactly you gave the thumbs down to, so it continues to record similiar material until it can figure out if it was the show or the actor, etc.


phox

[Rosincrans]

The TiVo doesn't know what exactly you gave the thumbs down to, so it continues to record similiar material until it can figure out if it was the show or the actor, etc. phox

It took a while but I finally convinced my Tivo that I don't speak Spanish. One Dora the Explorer season pass, and suddenly my suggestions were filled with nothing but spanish language shows.

[ZeoTiVo]

the other to record nothing but reality shows. I'm not a fan of crime dramas, have rated them all 3 thumbs down, and never record them. Despite this, both my Tivos recorded the pilot episodes of The Closer and Rescue Me when they were rebroadcast last month.

particularly on the TiVo that records nothing but Big Brother, Project Runway, and Amazing Race and Survivor reruns.

maybe your TiVo just wanted to save you from reality.

[Pab Sungenis]

TiVo has stated officially that suggestions are never influenced by advertising payments.

They learned from the "Bob And Rose" debacle in the UK.

[xkleyx]

It took a while but I finally convinced my Tivo that I don't speak Spanish. One Dora the Explorer season pass, and suddenly my suggestions were filled with nothing but spanish language shows.

I don't know why, maybe it's the mood I'm in, but I found your post to be quite amusing. Thanks, I needed that.

[Gospel]

It took a while but I finally convinced my Tivo that I don't speak Spanish. One Dora the Explorer season pass, and suddenly my suggestions were filled with nothing but spanish language shows.
I don't know Spanish either. So, to prevent my TiVo from suggesting Spanish language shows, I went into Settings -> Channels. I uncheck all the Spanish stations, shopping channels, MTV, and VH1. So, the TiVo doesn't think that I even receive these channels. Works for me.

Enjoy life,
Steven

[Lee L]

I get some spanish channesl every so often, but actually both my TiVos are right on target with most of their suggestions now. We tend to record more short wshows and reality upstairs and more serious stuff downstairs, but there is definietly some overlap when things get busy. Often one TiVo will suggest shows that the other is already recording or shows that we have watched in teh past or would like. We have started watching a few shows that we only know about via a suggestion.